Open House Tool You Shouldn't Be Without

After visiting several open houses, I realized that there is one simple tool that you should always bring with you. In order to test the integrity of a home's foundation, you can use a marble to roll across the floor. If the home's foundation is slipping in anyway, you'll know from how the marble behaves. If the marble rolls very fast in one direction, you'll know that the floor is sloped or uneven.

To follow on my posts about foundation types (slab vs. raised) this marble can save you a lot of heartache if you check the floor and foundation before you buy the house. While the marble may roll one way or another (or not), you certainly don't want to base your entire decision on buying based on what the marble tells you. However, you should add this to the data points you use to evaluate a home.

The marble is the perfect tool - small, fits in your pocket, and cheap to get. Hopefully you'll find a room with hardwood floors. When there is no one else in the room (especially the realtor), take the marble out of your pocket and set it on the floor. If it starts rolling fast in one direction, it may be a good indication that you should move onto the next open house.